Question

excerpt from paul bunyan of the north woods
by carl sandburg
(1) who made paul bunyan, who gave him birth as a myth, who joked him into life
as the master lumberjack, who fashioned him forth as an apparition easing the hours
of men amid axes and trees, saws and lumber? (2) the people, the bookless people,
they made paul and had him alive long before he got into the books for those who
read. (3) he grew up in shanties, around the hot stoves of winter, among socks and
mittens drying, in the smell of tobacco smoke and the roar of laughter mocking the
outside weather. (4) and some of paul came overseas in wooden bunks below decks
in sailing vessels. (5) and some of paul is old as the hills, young as the alphabet. . . .
(6) one year when it rained from st. patrick’s day till the fourth of july, paul bunyan
got disgusted because his celebration on the fourth was spoiled. (7) he dived into
lake superior and swam to where a solid pillar of water was coming down. (8) he
dived under this pillar, swam up into it and climbed with powerful swimming strokes,
was gone about an hour, came splashing down, and as the rain stopped, he
explained, i turned the darn thing off. (9) this is told in the big north woods and on
the great lakes, with many particulars.
the people, the bookless people, they made paul and had him alive long before he got into
the books for those who read.
from the italicized sentence, it can be inferred that the myth of paul bunyan began as a
—
○ a fairy tale to encourage children to read.
○ b tall tale about the power of ordinary humans.
○ c folk tale for people with little formal education.
○ d cautionary tale about the dangers of reckless behavior.

Explanation:

To solve this, we analyze the italicized sentence: "The people, the bookless people, they made Paul and had him alive long before he got into the books for those who read."

• Option A: The sentence doesn't mention encouraging children to read. Eliminate A.
• Option B: The myth is about Paul Bunyan, not the power of ordinary humans. The focus is on how bookless people created the myth. Eliminate B.
• Option C: "Bookless people" refers to those with little formal education, and they made the myth before it was written in books. This matches.
• Option D: The sentence doesn't discuss reckless behavior or a cautionary tale. Eliminate D.

Answer:

C. folk tale for people with little formal education.